WCS 17 Katt Williams made Gaza Strip a verb

As in, “I will Gaza Strip you.” As in, “I will annihilate you”— a thing Katt Williams did to multiple comedy careers last week

The little cat is not a liar, and in show business that makes you dangerous.

Will Katt Williams become—as his talent merits—catapulted star-wards, based on his savage breaking of the internet last week? Now, pre-internet history mandated that uncensored room reads like Williams’ podcast magnum opus were grounds for industry dismissal.

In our 2024 commerce thirst trap of click-bait and clout chasing though? This Negro might get voted king of Hollywood or Silicon Valley.

(I’m unsure who’s in charge anymore.)

At Shannon Sharpe’s Los Angeles Studio, Katt Williams started sipping good cognac on the Club Shay Shay podcast.

By the time dude was done—2 1/2 hours later—the comedian had delivered one of the all-time paranoid perspectives on The Business. Paranoid, and absolutely reeking of truth.

Every few years Hollywood gets a breakaway artist who decides to take off the kid gloves and deliver some real behind the scenes talk. Think Ricky Gervais’s first Golden Globes’ room read. Or the debut Chino XL album, if you want to dip back into the 20th century. This time, it was a lapsed little Jehovah’s Witness from Dayton, Ohio. Williams forcefully undressed a huge swath of Black Hollywood, with zero regard for reputations.

His victims spent the week trying to respond.

Beyond embarrassing haughty frauds, the more important revelations and declarations concerned the making of content sausage, the recipe for mediocrity that’s perennially over-served as Kevin Hart.

Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer appears as though he enjoys some of that primo local product. Yet another reason to root for the final Pac-12 champs.

Think of your favorite Kevin Hart routine. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. (Google’s fine for this portion of the test.)

Now. Here’s some of a routinely great Katt Williams set:

It’s a different league of comedy, from an underground legend.

About 12 years ago at Portland’s Pacific Northwest College of Art I caught a lecture by the Brooklyn artist Jayson Musson, probably best known for “Hennessey Youngman”’s Art Thoughtz. He broke down the underappreciated genius of a Katt Williams performance when many of us were still calling Dave Chappelle the funniest person alive. The Buckeye’s pure sense of what’s funny, joke integrity, and writing are all really special, but what makes dude’s stand-up great is the same thing that powered the Shay Shay pod appearance into the immortals’ realm: The spectacular nature of Williams’ spite.

It’s the righteous indignation of a soul on fire. Katt Williams’ anger is almost a Biblical anger, and it is riveting. Listen to both podcast installments. The Jonathan Majors stuff is chef’s kiss.

Let’s get going on 2024. The stench of last year is still upon us, like that of those Nazis elsewhere on Substack.

10 What if Travis Kelce can’t make Taylor come?

It’s not an unreasonable explanation for why the Hall of Fame tight end lost his mojo mid season. After all, she’s had musician fingers and mouths play symphonies on her body. Those grubby football fingers might not be cutting it.

The Chiefs limped into the playoffs with a 13-12 win over the lowly San Diego Chargers. Kelce didn’t play, robbing the world of seeing what a septuagenarian looks like in a football uni. But the 34-year-old Cleveland Heights native is still on track to become more famous than The Rock, and that’s what really matters.
New York Times

• The Kelce career arc has been orchestrated by twin brothers Andre and Aaron Eanes, who have known Kelce since he starred at Cincinnati.

• "People say to me, 'Man, it's been a crazy year,'" says Aaron. "When I say, 'Actually, it's not that crazy,' people look at me funny. It's because it's easy when you have a plan. We're executing that plan."

Lil Hit

• It would be journalistic malpractice if I overlooked the big weed takeaways from last year and what to look forward to in 2024 simply because we’re eight days into the new year.
  Cannabis Business Times

9 Jo Koi took the bullet meant for Darvin Ham

Lakers Coach Darvin Ham almost got fired this weekend.

Between a 3-9 record over the past 12 games, reports of locker room tune out, and the fact that the above quotes were his walkout words on Friday night, Ham really needed the Lakers to show up last night against a Clippers squad that had won eight of its last 10.